John Barleycorn (Must Die)

[Verse 1]

There were three men came out of the west

Their fortunes for to try

And these three men made a solemn vow:

John Barleycorn must die

[Verse 2]

They've ploughed, they've sown, they've harrowed him in

Threw clods upon his head

And these three men made a solemn vow:

John Barleycorn was dead

[Verse 3]

They've let him lie for a very long time

Till the rains from heaven did fall

And little Sir John sprung up his head

And so amazed them all

[Verse 4]

They've let him stand till Midsummer's Day

Till he looked both pale and wan

And little Sir John's grown a long, long beard

And so become a man

[Verse 5]

They've hired men with the scythes so sharp

To cut him off at the knee

They've rolled him and tied him by the way

Serving him most barbarously

[Verse 6]

They've hired men with the sharp pitchforks

Who pricked him to the heart

And the loader he has served him worse than that

For he's bound him to the cart

[Verse 7]

They've wheeled him around and around the field

Till they came unto a barn

And there they made a solemn oath

On poor John Barleycorn

[Verse 8]

They've hired men with the crab-tree sticks

To cut him skin from bone

And the miller he has served him worse than that

For he's ground him between two stones

[Verse 9]

And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl

And his brandy in the glass;

And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl

Proved the strongest man at last

[Verse 10]

The huntsman, he can't hunt the fox

Nor so loudly to blow his horn

And the tinker he can't mend kettle nor pot

Without a little Barleycorn